Half to jacob d



Patented Feb. I4, |899.

J. M. HOFFMAN.

SLICING MECHANISM FOR BREAD. &c.

(Application led Jan. 25, 1898.)

(No Model.)

Inventor.

Attorney.

|llililllil Witnesses.

NITED STATES PATENT FFIGE.

JEREMIAII M. HOFFMAN, OF READING, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- HALF TO JACOB D. MENGEL, OF SAME PLACE.

SLICING MECHANISM FOR BREAD,`&.C.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 619,415, dated February 14, 1899.

Application filed J' anuary 25, 1898. Serial No. 667,895. (No model.)

T0 @ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J EREMIAH M. HOFFMAN, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Reading, county of Berks, State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Slicing Mechanism for Bread, tbc., of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improved culinary utensil adapted to facilitate the slicing of bread, rbc., into pieces of uniform thickness.

It consists in the novel form and arrangement of the devices for guiding the knife and the bread, gaging the thickness of the slices, and supporting and ejecting the latter, and is adapted to be used in connection with an ordinary bread-knife.

The novel features are specifically pointed out in the claim.

Figure l isa longitudinal sectional view of a machine embodying my invention, showing a portion only of the knife-guide in vertical position and indicating in dotted lines its lowered position. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same, the top portion of the knife-guide being cut away. Fig. 3 is a front elevation, a portion of the gage being cut away to show more clearly the feed-table and slice-support. The knife and the loaf to be sliced Aare indicated by dotted lines.

A represents the feed-table, which is supported upon uprightsA. To the forward end of these nprights is fastened the knifeguide B. This guide, as shown in the drawings, is formed of sheet metal and is pivoted at b to the two uprights of the feed-table, so as to be capable of either folding down to the position indicated by dotted lines in Fig. l or of being set in operative vertical position. It is held in the latter position by means of a fixed stop b2 and a spring-stop b3, the latter being depressed by the operator to permit the guide to be folded down, but projected automatically as the guide assumes a vertical position.

A slot b is provided in the guide B of sufficient width to permit free movement of the knife K and extending from the top of the arched guide to a distance below the surface of the feed-table A sufcient to allow the top of the knife-blade K to get below said surface, as indicated in Fig. l, the extended portion Azof the uprights A being also cut away sufficiently to allow this movement of the knife below the feed-surface.

O represents a gage or adjustable stop, which, as shown, is formed of sheet metal, with an upright portion extending above the feed-surface of the table and crosswise of the same and with a horizontal portion O,which is guided in slots a in the table-uprights.

' This gage is provided with suitable means for adjusting it relative to the knife-guide b and to the front edge of the feed-table,these means, as shown, consisting merely of a screw-rod D, the inner end of which screws into the portion A5 of the table-frame, and a coil-spring d, located between the gage and said portion A2 of the frame and serving to push the gage as a whole outward as far as the variable position of the screw-head D will permit.

To provide for satisfactorily guiding the bread, I form the surface a of the feed-table with longitudinal ribs and depressions,which serve to prevent any uneven movement or twisting of the loaf in pushing it toward the knife. The feed-table extends nearly to the knifeeslot b, thus supporting the loaf L close up to the knife, and I also provide a support E for the overhanging portion L of the loaf, which when severed from the latter forms a slice of predetermined thickness, as fixed by the adjustment of the gage C. This support E, which is formed of wire bent to U shape and secured in inverted position, as shown, by pressing the pointed ends of the vertical sides into the extensions A2 of the side uprights A', also serves to keep the slice L from dropping after the knife has severed it from the loaf, thus permitting the whole blade of the knife to get beneath it, as indicated in Fig. l, so that as the knife is afterward raised preparatory to repeating the cutting operation the slice L, which is forced backward after the passage of the knife by the spring of the sheet-metal stop C, will be ejected by the knife as the latter vis raised for the succeeding operation and caused to fall outward upon the slices previously cut, which may be thus formed into a neat pile.

It will be noticed that I employ an ordinary IOO bread-knife, the position of which in the guide B is entirely under the control of the operator. The Whole construction and operation of the device are extremely simple and satisfactory.

What I claim is- In a bread-cutting mechanism the combination of a feed-table A, a slotted knife-guide B, a knife guided therein, a slice-support E, and a spring-stop C; the slot b of said knifeguide extending below the top surface of the table and 0f said support a distance greater than the width of the knife and said springstcp serving to press the severed slice backward after the passage of the knife so that 15 JEREMIAH M. HOFFMAN.

lVitnesses:

CAMERON E. STRAUss, W. G. STEWART. 

